Deceased Members Capt. A. Gerard. 539 



Having been born at the University of Old Aberdeen, in which 

 his father was Theological Professor, he had early imbibed a thirst 

 for knowledge and for scientific pursuits ; and at the age of sixteen 

 he entered the military service of the East India Company. Ha- 

 ving considerable abilities as a surveyor, and being desirous of 

 travelling, he soon got an appointment, and was sent to survey the 

 province of Malwa, where he prosecuted his instructions under a 

 burning sun, with great accuracy and constancy of purpose. He 

 procured at his own expense the most costly instruments, and un- 

 dertook several surveys in the Himalaya Mountains, suffering every 

 vicissitude of heat, cold, hunger, and all the ills which could beset 

 a traveller, with a degree of cheerfulness which was remarkable ; 

 but a residence of thirty years in India, passed chiefly in the endu- 

 rance of these hardships, laid the foundation of that decay of health, 

 which has lately brought him to a premature grave. 



Captain Alexander Gerard was well known in the East as a sci- 

 entific traveller, having, in company with his brother, the late Dr. 

 James Gerard, penetrated the Himalaya Mountains through seve- 

 ral passes before unknown to Europeans. While contributing, by 

 his maps, to benefit geographical science, he never lost sight of 

 what was novel and interesting in the geology, botany, and zoology 

 of these stupendous regions, and various occasional papers have 

 appeared from his pen, comprising valuable information on these 

 subjects. We owe to this enterprising officer and indefatigable 

 barometrical observer, our first knowledge of the structure of that 

 portion of the Himalaya Mountains which forms the upper region 

 of the Valley of the Sutlej, and is chiefly primitive. In this north- 

 west extremity of India, on the frontier of China, he ascended to 

 the astonishing height of 19,411 feet, on the mountain Tahigang, 

 the summit of which he estimated at 22,000 feet above the sea. 



A small collection of geological specimens made by him has 

 been recently laid before this Society ; it was formed in the distric 

 of Speetee, in Chinese Tartary, at the elevation of from 12,000 to 

 19,000 feet above the level of the sea, and between the latitudes 

 31 30" and 32 30" north, and longitude 77 and 79 east. On 

 the confines of Chinese Tartary, at the height of 16,200 feet, he 

 found a region of limestone containing Ammonites. The same shells 

 occur nearly at the same height near the Niti and Manna Passes. 

 In Thibet he observed millions of organic remains, lying at extra- 

 ordinary altitudes, and forming vast and rocky cliffs. At the eleva- 

 tion of 17,000 feet were seen detached fragments of rocks, bearing 

 the impression of shells, which must have been derived from still 

 higher peaks ; one clift was a mile in perpendicular height above 

 the nearest level. 



He first appears as the companion of Herbert in his survey of 

 the course of the Sutlej, 1819. (Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. p. 339.) 

 In the same vol. p. 469, he published observations on the climate 

 of Subathu and Kotgerh. His labours in completing a geogra- 

 phical survey of the valley of the Sutlej are the subject of a paper 

 by the late Mr. H. T. Colebrooke in the Transactions of the Asiatic 



